Not One Degree of Separation

     Shorter Fredo: "Let's not remind everyone the shooter is a fan of my Dad's and that he sees him as a ‘symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.’” (Incidentally, Fredo hasn't mentioned the shooting again since it came out he was a fan of Daddy's.)
     Last night our time, some lunatic walked into two mosques in Christchurch New Zealand with an assault weapon and killed 49 Muslims during their afternoon prayers and injured at least 48 others. The alleged shooter, Brenton Tarrant, live-streamed his massacre and left behind a typically long, rambling manifesto saying he wanted to kill Saddiq Khan, London's first Muslim mayor, and mentioned as his inspiration Anders Brevik, the Norway shooter, US right wing extremism and one Donald Trump, whom Tarrant sees as a "symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose."
     Yes, Tarrant, an Australian national, sees a kinship with ultra right wing extremism and terrorism. Trump, and the mouth breathers who'd voted for him, inspired him to carry out what was the worst terrorist attack in New Zealand's history.
     You'd think politicians the world over would be unconditionally condemning this mass murder but you'd be wrong.
     Some other far right lunatic, an asshole Senator from Queensland Australia named Fraser Anning, issued a pretty stunning statement blaming the New Zealand massacre squarely on its Muslim immigration policy.

     One right wing nut job on Twitter immediately tried to pull the disinformation thing on yours truly, telling me the shooter was actually someone who hated conservatism. When I showed him the first link in this article, he tried to counter with some sweaty Alex Jones conspiracy theory piece from Infowars.

     The block party started immediately.

     And this is symptomatic of what we can expect from the mainstream and right wing media alike: They'll pay the horrendous loss of Muslim lives the obligatory lip service then in the same breath blame liberals or Muslims or policies as Australia's answer to Steve King had (without once mentioing the shooter was a native of Oz.).

     They'll call Tarrant a generic psychopath but also a loner. He's neither.

     I again refer you to his own statement that Donald Trump, our so-called leader, is a "symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose."

     That would be the "white identity" that was very much in evidence in the wake of the Charlottesville riots of August 2017 in which Trump excused the murderous actions of his fellow white supremacists, his very base, even calling them "very fine people." Then there was his infamous Muslim ban that caused chaos at our airports.

     And, once again, he was inspired by the ultra right wing violence that he sees in America, the very kind excused and even inspired by Trump and escalating virtually with complete impunity. And Tarrant is very much what is becoming an eerily consistent fixture on the world stage: A lone wolf, right wing psycho who nonetheless feels a kinship with other like-minded right wing lone wolves who hate the same people.

     There is no longer any plausible deniability, not one degree of separation. Trump's white nationalism is now officially getting scores of innocent people killed the world over.

     Trump must go. What are we waiting for?